> pelley: good evening. this is our western edition. it is the win">
> pelley: good evening. this is our western edition. it is the win" property="og:description">
> pelley: good evening. this is our western edition. it is the win">
captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. this is our western edition. it is the winter that will not quit. right now the storm is delivering a second round of snow, iand freezing rain to much of the east coast. bayville, new york, on long island, got more than 14 inches of snow. westminster, maryland, 16 inches. warnings, watches, and advisories are up tonight in 20 states from south carolina to maine. the storm is blamed for at least 15 deaths, most of them in highway accidents. travel is difficult throughout the region. thousands more flights were canceled today. and more than 750,000 homes and businesses have no electricity tonight. it is all testing the grit of millions of americans. we have a team of correspondents in the storm zone. first, we're going to go to don dahler in new york city. don? cott, half a dozen storms in as many weeks have left this city battered. snow totals in this area are now at 51 inches. normally this time of the season, they're at 16 inches. being a new yorker these days is all about endurance. >> i really am. >> reporter: piles of gray snow blocked sidewalks. roads are as slick as an olympic ski slope. yet, the country's financial center plods along. but the wind-driven snow made it tough going. taxis struggled to gain traction. pedicab drivers slogged through the slush. mayor bill deblasio. >> people went to work today, like usual, all over the city, and we, unlike certain other cities in this country, we tonight shut down in the face of some adversity. >> reporter: but neither did the mayor shut down the country's largest school system with over one million students. that opened him up to a flurry of criticism. kids and their parents struggled through near-blizzard conditions. >> it's pretty impossible to drive around or get anywhere. probably should have been a snow day today. >> reporter: the teachers' union slammed the decision as unwarranted. deblasio says closing schools is a hardship for parents. >> so many families have to go to work. the members of these families have to go to work. they do not have a choice they need a safe option for their kids. >> reporter: the sleet and snow didn't stop amelia blake of the visit nurse service of new york from making her rounds. >> these patients depend on us. they depend on us to come in and give them their insulin in the morning. they depend us on as someone to see them, check in on them. >> reporter: with the clothing industry's convention, known as fashion week, in full swing, it makes more than a little snow to keep the beautiful people away. >> fashion is fashion. the weather will never stop us. >> reporter: the city got about nine and a half inches of snow buffer it turned to rain this afternoon. more snow is expected tomorrow night. scott, just in time for the morning commute. >> pelley: one mother slogging to school with a six-year-old said going to school today was absolutely ridiculous. don, thank you very much. in washington, the federal government shut down today, but this time it had nothing to do with politics. chip reid is in the snow-capped capital. chip. >> reporter: well, good evening, scott. you know, even a couple inches of snow can bring washington, d.c. to a grinding halt, but a foot of snow turns this place into a ghost town. on the deserted streets of washington today, the silence was interrupted by the rumble of a snow plow. of the 300,000 federal workers in the washington area, nearly all were told to stay home. the capitol was all but empty after the biggest snowstorm in four years sent members of congress rushing out of town for a week-long recess. the only presidential sighting was at a snow sculpture contest a few blocks from the white house, and at washington-area airports, most flights were canceled. unlike new york city schools, d.c.-area schools were closed, leaving popular sledding spots packed. in nearby arlington, virginia, brad and julie carson joined their son, jack, because, as federal employees, they had the day off, too. have you had enough of this? >> yes. >> reporter: you have? >> ready for spring. >> reporter: northern virginia has already had 33 inches of snow this winter, nearly a foot more than the average for an entire season. the carsons have lost track of how many school days jack will have to make up. >> oh, we'll be in school for a long time, to mid-summer at this pace so we're ready to get back. >> reporter: several washington- area school districts have already announced they will be closed again tomorrow, but, scott, we're still waiting to hear if the federal government will reopen. >> pelley, and chip, we're just getting word that washington's airports are just now beginning to open up again. chip, thanks very much. eric fisher is the chief meteorologist at cbs station wbz in boston. eric, this storm, it's not done yet. >> reporter: no, it is not. we've still got a ways to go here, scott, and already we've got so many without power in the southeast and big snow totals on the board in megalopolis. over nine inches in central park in new york. in domestic it's the biggest snowstorm since snowmageddon in 2010. it's now the fifth snowiest winter on record. we track one more piece, the upper level energy for this storm that comes up across new jersey, across parts of the philadelphia area, new york city tonight. there will be thunder snow within that area and thunder sleet, some locally heavy snowfall, and another half foot could fall on some of those areas as that moves its way up and into new england for the overnight hours. scott, for folks digging out, there will be plenty more waiting for them tomorrow. >> pelley: and what's coming next? >> reporter: i wish we had better news here but there is another storm right on the heels of this. this will actually dig down across the southeast, so around atlanta and charlotte, there's a chance for snowfall again as we head into friday night and early saturday. this the quickly develop right off the coast, so, scott, d.c., new york, and boston they will all be in play again this weekend. >> pelley: eric fisher of wbz, eric, thanks very much. most of the power outages tonight are in the carolinas and georgia. mark strassmann is in atlanta for us. mark. >> reporter: scott, 272,000 georgians are still without power, and for some of them it's a matter of life and death. we found a grandmother living off a ventilator until her power went out. and none of her relatives could reach her because of all the snow and ice. lieutenant dennis moore of the union city fire department got the emergency call. he drove six miles over icy roads to get here with two tanks of oxygen. >> we gotta keep green happy. >> reporter: 81-year-old eugenia garrett needed that life line. she had 90 minutes of reserve oxygen left. robert garrett, her husband of 65 years, was desperate. >> she wouldn't be alive without it. she-- she depends on it. >> reporter: atlanta this morning was a wintry ghost town for the third day. after temperatures in the low 40s melted much of the snow, ice, and anxiety. emergency officials got worried everyone would head outside at once. natalie dale is with the georgia emergency management agency. >> let us do our jobs working on the roads. you do your job being a good motorist, going slow, paying attention, giving our crews the room they need to work or stay home if you can. >> reporter: no shower. willie and cheryl sallee can't take it at home anymore. >> this morning, when i woke up, i could see my breath once i stuck my head from under the covers. >> reporter: they've been without power since daybreak yesterday. so what are you going to do? >> no water. we're going to a hotel. >> reporter: you're fed up. >> we're done. >> reporter: we checked back in with the garretts, the older couple who needed the delivery of oxygen. they are still without power, but, scott, lieutenant moore told me he'll deliver as much oxygen as she needs until their power is back on. >> pelley: mark thanks very much. atlanta's airport and philadelphia's were among the hardest hit today. nationwide, nearly 6,500 flights were canceled. add that to yesterday's cancellation and it comes to nearly 10,000. since the storm began, more than 600,000 passengers have had their flights canceled. driving wasn't much better, particularly in the carolinas, where wyatt andrews is tonight. >> reporter: this was the scene today everywhere around raleigh- - drivers coming to rescue their cars, often with the help of family, friends, and even strangers. school english teacher yvette and her daughter sky were caught for hours after several cars in front of hers lost traction and blocked the road. it was 25 degrees. since she was three blocks from downtown, she parked the car on the median, and booked a hotel. >> if i didn't have my daughter i might have just toughed it out but i didn't want her spending the night in the car. >> reporter: so it was walk downtown or spend the night in the car? those were your choices? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: the gridlock happened after thousand of people left work early and were on the roads as the roads iced over. the state highway patrol took almost 7,000 distress calls, seven times greater than normal. today, most business and government offices were closed, and here is the difference-- highway 401, a major commuter road yesterday, highway 401 today. no one we spoke to blamed the government or the forecast. they blamed themselves for not leaving earlier or, like james greg, wrote it off to bad luck. >> it's really just something that happened. >> pelley: five weeks to spring but who's counting. wyatt, thanks very much. today, america's two biggest cable companies announced a $45 billion merger. if another proved, comcast and time warner cable would become a dominant force in entertainment. anthony mason is joining us now. anthony, how did this merger come about? >> reporter: the deal, scott, signed at 1:30 in the morning took almost everybody by surprise. it combines the two biggest cable companies, cable and broadband providers, but both have been hemorrhaging cable tv customers since 2010, losing more than four million between them. together comcast and time warner will have about 30% of the cable market. that shouldn't be a problem with regulators, but the combined company could reach about 66% of the country, and that may raise some red flags. >> pelley: and what might it mean for customers? >> reporter: well, consumer groups, scott, are worried that comcast could become the bully in the school yard, that it will have unprecedented gatekeeper power to control content. comcast argues the two companies don't have overlapping markets, so competition won't be reduced. but in consumer surveys, scott, these are two of the least- popular companies in one of the most disliked industries. >> pelley: one way to go before the merminger is approved. anthony, thanks very much. today, one of the world's largest solar power plant opened in nevada. 300,000 mirrors are being used to convert sunlight into electricity in a complex that covers five square miles of the mojave desert. the plant can power 140,000 homes. against u.s. warnings, afghanistan just released some of its most dangerous prisoners. a mother journeys thousands of miles to confront the syrian dictatorship. and we'll show you what happened when a photographer stepped into an octopus' garden when the western edition of the cbs evening news continues. latte or au lait? 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don't say he committed suicide. >> reporter: for fatima, these peace talks are a chance to confront the syrian government again. what are you looking for? >> i want answers so that i can sleep peacefully. i can't sleep. >> reporter: but swiss police wouldn't allow her to protest on the sidewalk outside the talks. >> no, no. >> reporter: and syrian government officials ignored her. >> i don't think they will say sorry. but i just want to know how and why they killed him and did he-- did my son know that he was going to be killed? and what was his last words? >> reporter: questions she asked not just for herself but for found of mothers whose sons have suffered the same fate. clarissa ward, cbs news, geneva. >> pelley: tonight, an american car company is announcing a huge recall after accidents that killed six people. that's next. six people. that's next. wow, this hotel is amazing. oh no. who are you? who are you? wrong answer. wait, daddy, this is blair, he booked this room with priceline express deals and saved a ton. yeah, i didn't have to bid i got everything i wanted. oh good i always do. oh good he seemed nice. express deals. priceline savings without the bidding. i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. 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[ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one. choose 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? i need your timesheets, larry! >> pelley: today, general motors said it is recalling 780,000 chevys and pontiacs. the engines can shut off without warning, and six people have died in 22 crashes linked to the problem. jeff glor has been looking into this. >> reporter: scott the recall applies to two g.m. mod wills, chevrolet cobalts made between 2005 and 2007, and pontiac g5s from 2007. g.m. says if an owner's key ring is too heavy or there is too much jarring on rough roads, the ignition switch can flip out of the run position and the car could potentially lose power. if that happens, the airbags may not work. g.m. says the six deaths they know of happened off road at high speeds, and alcohol was involved in three of those cases. the company says it's known of the problem since at least may of last year but didn't issue this recall until now because, they say, it took this long to pinpoint the exact cause. g.m. will fix the problem free of charge at their dealerships. the highway safety administration just received notice of this recall this week. a spokesman tells us they will now begin their own review. >> pelley: jeff, thanks very much. there was an arm wrestling competition in california, but it was not exactly a fair fight. it was two against eight. diver warren murray was photographing an octopus in carmel the other day when the creature grabbed the camera. they wrestled for it, and despite his arms deficit, murray ultimately won. these are some of the pictures he took of the vanquished octopus. in a moment, some very different kinds of photographs that tell the story of a decades-long romance. debbades-long romance. uabout tomorrow, worryig we miss out on what matters today. ♪ at axa, we offer advice and help you break down your retirement goals into small, manageable steps. because when you plan for tomorrow, it helps you live for today. can we help you take a small step? for advice, retirement, and life insurance, connect with axa. i didn't think i could buy them their own, let alone for under $300. but this asus with windows is lightweight and has everything they need -- not like chromebooks that can't install office or have to be connected to the internet to get much done. with this they can do homework, chat, play games -- on their own laptop, and their own time. so no more fighting... at least not over my laptop. ♪ honestly, i wanna see you be brave ♪ anyway, what could happen in a couple of hours, right? 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[ male announcer ] plus, you can control your home from almost anywhere. call now and get adt for just $49 so you can get back to date night. ♪ welcome mat. next weather talent appears at wx center with generic pinpoint filling monitor then we take special >> pelley: all winter, dean reynolds in chicago has been reporting on bone-chilling cold. well, tonight he's brought us a story guaranteed to warm your heart. >> this is the rare picture of me meeting hemingway. >> reporter: 91-year-old art shay has been telling stories with his camera for 60 years, working mostly for "life" magazine, he captured an amazing roster of subjects, from kennedy to ali, from eleanor roosevelt to elizabeth taylor. but page through the thousands of stills, and one story stands out. >> this is the first photograph? >> yeah, we were both 20, and it was up in the catskills. >> reporter: art's focus was often squarely on florence, his wife, catching her in private moments or public events. his leica had a tendency to locate her did she ever say put the camera away. >> yes, she always did it. and you know the litany of all true photographers is, "just one more." >> reporter: sure, sure. >> a photograph is the biography of a moment. >> reporter: strung together, they chart a lifetime. >> she was 29 here. >> reporter: wow. she looks about 19. >> that's my favorite picture of her. >> reporter: the photos of their love story are now on display at columbia college in chicago. >> yeah, that was in the 60s. >> reporter: the exhibit is called, "my florence," a tribute to their 67 years of marriage. does it make you feel closer to florence? >> yes, very much so. >> reporter: what is the last picture you took of her that is in the show? >> the picture of her four weeks before she died. >> reporter: florence would have been 92 on valentine's day. >> this is the only picture of her really in pain. >> reporter: when she got sick, did you two discuss that you were going to continue to photograph her? >> i assigned myself to do her life as i remembered it, with the joy, the happiness, and only a touch of, a touch of her sickness. >> reporter: florence passed away from cancer in august 2012. art says gathering the photos for the show has helped him heal, though not entirely. >> it's very hard to do. she did like this picture quite a bit. florence did say," don't cry for me when the time comes because i had a wonderful life," and she did, and we did. >> reporter: the evidence is right there in the pictures. dean reynolds, cbs news, chicago. >> pelley: and that's the cbs evening news for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all around the world, good night. your realtime captioner is linda macdonald. now at 6:00 a grammatic dramatic example of how the tech effect is rapidly transforming the bay area. good evening, i'm ken bastida. >> i'm elizabeth cook. new at 6:00 ryan takeo shows us how money and influence are spilling into the east bay but first len ramirez on how silicon valley is trying to lure more tech workers out of san francisco. >> reporter: san jose already has a thriving business community but it could be better. that's why one city council person after viewing the protests against some businesses in san francisco feel that san jose can do better than the city by the bay. >> reporter: san jose is building new housing by the story. and by the block. thousands of new housing units are coming online at a blistering pace including two new 20 story high-rises in the downtown core but what's not up to speed are the number of jobs being created here. >> out of the top 20 cities in the united states we are the only one that has a larger nighttime population than a daytime population and we want that to change. we want more jobs. >> reporter: that's why this city council member was dumbstruck when he heard about the loud angry protests over google buses and twitter tax breaks in san francisco. he wants to send a message that those companies and workers are welcomed in san jose. >> we hope you'll bring jobs to our city. >> reporter: he says san jose has better prices and better weather and although its housing market is hot it's not red-hot like san francisco and in this part of silicon valley, there is no class warfare against